Elysium (2013)

Elysium Synopsis

In the year 2159, two classes of people exist: the very wealthy, who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. The people of Earth are desperate to escape the planet’s crime and poverty, and they critically need the state-of-the-art medical care available on Elysium – but some in Elysium will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve their citizens’ luxurious lifestyle. The only man with the chance bring equality to these worlds is Max (Matt Damon), an ordinary guy in desperate need to get to Elysium. With his life hanging in the balance, he reluctantly takes on a dangerous mission – one that pits him against Elysium’s Secretary Delacourt (Jodie Foster) and her hard-line forces – but if he succeeds, he could save not only his own life, but millions of people on Earth as well.

In retrospect, director Neill Blomkamp’s sophomore directorial effort, Elysium, was a disappointment. As it turns out, these failings aren’t lost on the movie’s filmmaker, and now he’s come forward to admit that he “fucked it up.”

While most people who consider themselves a fan of a movie typically celebrate that fanhood with the occasional reference or rewatch, there are others who just feel compelled to try and bring the fictional reality to life. For example, we've seen the world of comic books inspire geeks to create things like Spider-Man web shooters, Iron Man laser gauntlets, and retractable Wolverine claws.

According to the claim, Steve Wilson Briggs wrote a screenplay called Butterfly Driver back in May 2005 and he claims that Blomkamp and the studios stole elements from his idea, including the "plot, characters, unusual settings, themes, conflict, catalyst, crisis, climax-twist, the hero’s unique 'character-affiliation,' the hero’s 'keepsake necklace' and more."

There were a flurry of futuristic action films that came out in the past year or so and each of them seemed to have a big star attached. The most recent of these was Elysium, a decently big budget adventure story starring Matt Damon. If you missed the movie in theaters, you’ll be able to catch it when it hits Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD on December 17.

Looking to Elysium, Kick-Ass 2, and Lee Daniels’ The Butler for inspiration, we've pulled together a selection of dystopian future science fiction, dark superhero stories, and docudramas that chronicle major moments in U.S. history.

Let's be honest-- predicting and understanding box office involves a whole lot of guesswork and 20/20 hindsight. If anyone could accurately know what audiences will go for, Disney never would have poured a bunch of cash into The Lone Ranger, and Warner Bros. would have filmed all three Hangover movies back-to-back before the actors started asking for more money.

There was a lot of new movies demanding attention this weekend, and the love from audiences was spread pretty thin.

Number one went to Elysium, banking just $30 million. That's a let down for director Neill Blomkamp whose last rated R sci-fi film (and his first every feature film as well), District 9 managed a $37 million opening in 2009, and that was without big names like Damon and Foster on the billing.

A lot of very different movies are jostling for attention at the box office this weekend, but so far it's the most typical summer blockbuster that's coming out on top. Elysium, the sci-fi film starring Matt Damon and directed by District 9's Neill Blomkamp, was the highest earner on Friday, making $11.2 million on its opening day

This week we've shed the shackles of Earth and made our way to the skies to reach Elysium, the new film from District 9 director Neill Blomkamp. Can it live up to the expectations from his first film? Is Matt Damon's health care plan really that bad? Patches, Dave and David reveal all in their review, in addition to picking your answers to our lightning around about forgotten Disney classics

This weekend, the director of District 9 is once again bringing an enthralling, thought-provoking piece of original science-fiction to theaters nationwide. The sophomore effort from writer/director Neill Blomkamp, Elysium is set in a not-too-distant future where the richest of the rich have fled the Earth and moved to a luxurious space station where all disease has been eliminated. Meanwhile, the poor are stranded on the dying planet

I wondered how close we were these kind of scientific breakthroughs, and so I turned to my childhood friend and cousin Jim Salvia, who went from being a brainy kid to an electrical engineer who while getting his PhD at Stanford worked on the technology that now allows quadriplegics to operate computers with their brains.

Bunch of movies on the Rotten slate this week, which means we shouldn’t waste any time getting down to business. This time we’ll take a trip to Elysium, sun some drugs with the Millers, fly a bunch of animated planes and touch base with Percy Jackson again

The set up and pacing of the trailer are quite similar to the other extended trailer that was released last month, only with another 25 seconds or so of new footage spliced in. A good chunk of that extra time is put together from Adrian Holmes’ character Manuel showing Matt Damon how to work his weapons, one of which he tests out against a robot drone.

In the movie, Damon stars as Max De Costa, an ex-con/factory worker living in a future where society has been completely divided by class. While the poor and middle classes try to survive on what's left of the planet's resources, the rich people of the world have all moved to Elysium, a space station where all crime, sickness and violence has been eliminated. When Max is involved in an accident at work, however, he is left poisoned and with only a few days to live.

But we’ve seen Matt Damon holding a gun in the bulk of the promo stills. Far more interesting was the article, which covered his political message (or lack thereof) with Elysium, a District 10 update, and his original casting choices for Damon’s Max De Costa character.

Neill Blomkamp's Elysium has promise to be one of the biggest sci-fi adventures of the summer. The South African writer/director blew us all away with his 2009 debut, the Academy Award nominated District 9, and it appears that he has actually upped the ante for his sophomore effort. Not only does the movie feature big name stars like Matt Damon and Jodie Foster, the story itself plays out on an epic scale...

Imagine a future where mankind has developed the technology to cure all disease. Imagine a future where war is a distant memory and poverty a distant concept. In Neil Blomkamp's upcoming science fiction epic Elysium this future is real…well, for the privileged anyway.

Both written and directed by Blomkamp, the new movie is set in a future where all of the world's richest people have moved off of the planet's surface to a space station called Elysium. But while the floating paradise is free of all war, violence and disease, the people that remain on Earth struggle to survive.

The movie stars Damon as Max, a former criminal who lives on the surface of a future Earth where the rich have all moved to a space station in the sky called Elysium. While the 1% leaves a completely peaceful existence free of all violence and disease, the poor and middle classes still living on the planet struggle to survive.

Set in 2159, Elysium is named for a perfect man-made paradise that floats above the ruins of Earth. People still live on Earth's surface, but these are the unlucky forced to exist in an overpopulated, impoverished hell hole overrun by crime and chaos.

In the story, Damon is trying to make his way to Elysium, a community hovering in the stratosphere above our planet after Earth has been decimated by human society. He has been poisoned and needs to find a cure, and uses an exoskeleton to helm get him up to the exclusive community. Copley, meanwhile, is doing what he can to prevent Damon from reaching his destination.

This Friday, Tom Cruise faces the challenges of living on an Earth almost completely abandoned by humanity in Oblivion. In June's After Earth, Will and Jaden Smith play a father-son pair who crash land on Earth, thousands of years after humans have left it. Next year Russell Crowe stars in Darren Aronofsky's retelling of the Noah's Ark tale-- the original disaster movie. Noticing a trend here?

It says a lot about how incredible District 9 was that we're as excited as we are for writer/director Neill Blomkamp's Elysium. The young filmmaker's debut feature was an absolutely stunning mix of blockbuster action, brilliant visual effects, and impressive political parable that launched him on to just about everybody's "must watch filmmakers" lists.

Following yesterday’s footage reveal, Blomkamp, star Sharlto Copley, and producer Simon Kinberg were kind enough to sit down with film journalists, including myself, and discuss the upcoming sci-fi blockbuster, the footage we had seen.

Earlier this afternoon, Blomkamp, star Sharlto Copley, and producer Simon Kinberg (with Matt Damon attending via satellite from Germany) came together at the Arclight Hollywood theater in Los Angeles, California to present a crowd of both fans and journalists with the first look at Elysium, the new sci-fi blockbuster that will be in theaters this August.

Having seen a glimpse of Foster in the Comic Con footage they showed last summer, that is indeed her look-- though of course these on-set snaps, perhaps for the hair and makeup department, don't really capture the intensity of the character on film. I interviewed Foster at Comic Con as well

We reported back at San Diego Comic-Con that Copley’s character was a scene-stealing bad-ass. His task is to hunt down Damon’s character, who is trying to gain access to an elite community that exists off our planet, in the outer atmosphere of Earth.

Neill Blomkamp's Elysium is one of those films that it feels like we've been waiting for forever. The South African filmmaker's follow-up to his phenomenal 2009 hit District 9, the project has been in development since summer 2010 and geared up pre-production in January 2011, but we are still waiting for the movie to actually come out.

Two of the biggest sci-fi movies of 2013 are having their release schedules messed with. Sony has decided to make a few adjustments to their calendar next year and have even gone as far as to boot one of their biggest films off of it. The trade has learned that Elysium, the new movie from District 9 director Neill Blomkamp starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster, has shifted from March 1, 2013 to August 9, 2013 and have taken RoboCop and moved it to February 7, 2014.

With all due respect to Total Recall and Looper, which each look fantastic, most of us packed into Hall H for Sony’s panel to get our first official look at Elysium, the anticipated sci-fi thriller from District 9 director Neill Blomkamp. The director is bringing Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, producer Simon Kinberg and what we hope is some groundbreaking footage as the Hall H day comes to a close.

Over at the Hard Rock Hotel, also adjacent to the convention center, a mysterious spaceship seems to have crash landed-- a spaceship with ties to Matt Damon, District 9 director Neill Blomkamp, and their new movie Elysium. Take a look at it below, and note that it's made by luxury car manufacturer Bugatti, of all things

Set in the not-too-distant future, the film sees the popuation of the world split in two economically. The very wealthy all live in a posh space station (called Elysium) while everyone else is left on the rotting Earth. Obviously, the lower classes don't exactly enjoy the enforced lifestyle and they call on a man named Max (Damon) too lead their revolution. Unfortunately for him, standing in their way is Secretary Rhodes...

Remembering the alien spacecraft hovering over Johannesburg in District 9, and the sharp division between aliens and humans that served as a metaphor for apartheid, and we seem to be back in very similar thematic territory-- which could wind up being a good thing if Blomkamp also manages to expand on them

We’ve known for quite some time that a fourth Bourne movie is happening, and that Matt Damon isn’t in it. Instead, actor Jeremy Renner (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol) will be taking over the franchise in The Bourne Ultimatum as a new protagonist, with series screenwriter Tony Gilroy now also directing. Up until now, however, it has sounded like these changes were all cordial and mutual. Based on some comments Matt Damon made, however, that may not entirely be the case.

If you look a few years in to the past, Comic Con 2008 was in full swing and you started to see viral posters for what would soon be the sci-fi powerhouse of District 9. A similar situation is happening right now at SDCC 2011 for D9 director Neill Blomkamp’s next original sci-fi film Elysium.

When Neill Blomkamp made District 9 in 2009, his lead actor was Sharlto Copley, a friend whose only previous experience acting was in Blomkamp's short film, Alive in Joburg, which ended up the inspiration for the feature. With his sophomore effort, however, Blomkamp is taking full advantage of what comes with having your first film be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars.

Braga and Moura are both Brazilian-born actors, which has me wondering if that will play into the plot somehow, but it seems just as plausible that Blomkamp wants a diverse, international cast. Braga is no stranger to sci-fi, having starred in I Am Legend

We don't know much at all about Elysium so far, which makes this little tidbit of news all the more interesting. Foster is part of a cast that also includes Matt Damon, District 9 star Sharlto Copley and stalwart character actor William Fichtner

While Drive Angry 3D certainly wasn't the best film ever made, I do wish more people had seen it. Why? Because William Fichtner is amazing. Known to way too many people as "the bank manager from The Dark Knight," Fichtner is one our best character actors and always manages to put on a great performance.

Never the one to be worried about a quick paycheck, Blomkamp is taking his time with this one, as there will be a four year gap between District 9 and Elysium. He has to prove that he’s not just a one hit wonder so it’s nice to see him taking great care with this one and not just pushing it out the door.

This past January, one of the biggest hits of the Sundance Film Festival was a movie called Elite Squad 2. A Brazilian action film from director José Padilha, the film has already staked it's claim as one of the most popular films ever in Brazil, and is it's already paying off for the talent in Hollywood.

lomkamp is meeting with various studios, and in addition to giving a verbal pitch with his ideas, he's including a graphic novel-- a gambit that helped him get Peter Jackson as a producer on District 9